Birth Locations – Page 150 – The Exasperated Historian

47) John Peter Zenger

47) John Peter Zenger

Free Speech for Me Please, Thank You

Born: 26 October 1697, Holy Roman Empire (Present-day Impflingen, Germany)

Died: 28 July 1746, Manhattan, the Colony of New York (Present Day New York State in the United States of America)

Journalist and newspaper editor remembered today for his winning case in a landmark libel suit that set the precedent for not only Freedom of the Press in the American Colonies but later in the United States itself.

He came to America at the age of thirteen and spent the next eight years as an indentured servant before opening his own printing business in 1726.

Peter managed to scrape by for a year of publishing rude “attacks” on the Colonial Governor before being sued for libel in 1734. He spent ten months in prison before being brought to trial and then acquitted by the jury because they deemed his scathing remarks were in fact—fact.

To Learn More about Peter Zenger and the History of the First Amendment in General I highly recommend watching the masterclass on YouTube I’ve linked in this article.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Peter-Zenger

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/1142/john-peter-zenger

47) Eleanor “Nell” Gwyn

"Good people be civil--I am the Protestant whore!"

47) Nell Gwyn

"Whores to Market!"

Born: 2 February 1650, London, England

Died: 14 November 1687, Pall Mall, London, England

Alternate Spelling: Nell Gwynne

Mistress for Charles II of England.

She is one of his better-known mistresses and was known both in her own time and now for her biting humor. At one point an angry mob started to push around her carriage before she said, “Pray good people be civil, I am the protestant whore,” (meaning she was not the less popular and Catholic Duchess of Portsmouth).

The king had thirteen known mistresses in all during his life (and his wife and countless one-night stands) but Nell is remembered for being the least greedy and perhaps best liked—on his deathbed the king is said to have begged his heir, “Not to let poor Nellie starve."

She started out her career by selling oranges outside the theatre (she’d put the oranges on a tray and held them right beneath her breasts—she sold a lot of oranges); before making her way through the beds of two other Charles’s before ending up with the king.

Nell received a house near Pall Mall and asked for just £500 a year (which is pennies compared to the other women). The king would actually give her between £4000 and £5000 a year.

She would have two sons, but one died near birth. Her remaining son she was clever with though—while never obtaining a title for herself it is said she called him her “little bastard” in front of the king—and the horrified king quickly named him Duke of St. Albans.

After the king’s death she was almost sent to the debtors’ prison but luckily the new king settled her debts for her and gave her a reduced pension of £1500 a year. She also helped found the Chelsea Hospital.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located in My Personal Library:

Sex With Kings by Eleanor Herman

History's Naughty Bits by Karen Dolby

Uppity Women Speak Their Minds by Vicki León

Who Knew? Women in History: Questions That Will Make You Think Again by Sarah Herman

Sources:

https://www.harpercollins.com/9780061751554/sex-with-kings/

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nell-Gwyn-English-actress

https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/Nell-Gwyn-Gwynne/

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10264/eleanor-gwynne

46) Private Harold Baumgarten, MD

https://youtu.be/RYID71hYHzg

46) Private Harold Baumgarten, MD

He was a survivor, there's no doubting that

Born: 2 March 1925, New York, United States of America

Died: 25 December 2016, Florida, United States of America

According to his obituary, linked below, Tom Brokaw described him as, "One of the Greatest of the Greatest Generation."

Harold landed on Omaha Beach that fateful D-Day and was wounded five times in thirty-two hours, but he didn't die. Because of that survival, Harold decided to spend his life giving back to those around him. Once he left the service, he became a teacher and then later a medical doctor. Harold also worked for an insurance company as their physician.

Once he retired from the private practice after over forty years at it, Harold then spent six years working at the Veterans Administration.

Harold was interviewed about World War II and D-Day in many countries around the world, for both news stations and documentary programs. He was also a speaker in various countries as well.

Harold's list of awards and accommodations from the military are extensive, and include the Purple Heart, Two Bronze Stars, the Combat Infantry Badge, The Croix de Guerre, and many others.

His personal story of the landings that day was also used in the first twenty minutes of the production of Saving Private Ryan.

Harold was married to the love of his life for sixty-seven years and left behind numerous children and grandchildren.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Sources:

https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/jacksonville-fl/harold-baumgarten-7223611

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/174540284/harold-baumgarten

46) Barbara Villiers Palmer

46) Barbara Villiers Palmer

It takes a strong woman to be despised, feared, and hated; and by today's standards, she doesn't deserve it

Born: 27 November 1640, Westminster, London, England

Died: 9 October 1709, Chiswick, London, England

Mistress for Charles II of England and the Lady Castlemaine.

She was equal parts hated, despised, and feared by the advisors around the king.

Barbara was technically married but wasn’t down for the whole married life thing. She was raised in a royalist household and helped restore Charles II to the throne and bring him back from exile—and again she was married and yet it is known that the King celebrated his first night back in London with Barbara so...

She gave birth to the king’s daughter in 1671—around that time the king named her husband the Earl of Castlemaine (apparently Mr. Palmer was none too happy about the whole mistress situation and this was the king's way of trying to appease him).

The king quickly married a Princess from Portugal and then insisted on making Barbara one of the new queen’s ladies-of-the-bedchamber. It’s said when Barbara was presented to the queen in this way the poor girl fainted.

Unlike the King’s other mistress Nell Gwyn—Barbara had no problem seeing other people while remaining by the king’s side. Barbara would have six children in all and five were acknowledged as being the king’s illegitimate children.

When she was pregnant with her last child, she felt her grip on the king weakening and it is reported he agreed to apologizing to her in front of the whole court after slighting her. The king finally grew tired of Barbara in “That way” and made her the Duchess of Cleveland.

Though it is believed all six of her children were the king’s he neglected to give one of them the Fitzroy surname. After the king’s death she had to sell off her properties to pay her debts and passed away from dropsy.

She is known as the most powerful British mistress in history.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located in My Personal Library:

Sex With Kings by Eleanor Herman

History's Naughty Bits by Karen Dolby

Scandalous Women: The Lives and Loves of History's Most Notorious Women by Elizabeth Kerri Mahon

The Royal Wardrobe: Peek Into the Wardrobes of History's Most Fashionable Royals by Rosie Harte

Sources:

https://www.harpercollins.com/9780061751554/sex-with-kings/

https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/Barbara-Villiers/

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/16316078/barbara-villiers-palmer

45) Oskar Schindler

You've Probably Heard of his Story From the Film Schindler's List

Born: 28 April 1908, Svitavy, Austria-Hungary (Present-day Czech Republic)

Died: 9 October 1974, Hildesheim, West Germany (Present-day Hildesheim, Germany)

He was an industrialist and Nazi Party Member who is arguably the most famous of the Righteous Gentiles who helped saved lives during the Shoah. Oskar and his wife Emilie are credited with saving around 1,200 Jews during World War II.

His story became internationally known by the release of Steven Spielberg's 1993 film Schindler's List; you can view the trailer for it here in this article (alongside a Biographic video for more information).

Oskar grew up in a relatively well-to-do Catholic family and married Emilie when he was nineteen, though he nearly always had at least one mistress.

Oskar got involved with the Jews during World War II after acquiring a factory in Poland in the hopes of making money. By then he'd made friends with most of the big wigs in the local Gestapo and decided Jewish labor would be how he would operate his factory as they were the least expensive available.

However, his opinion soon changed. In exchange for some money from the richer Jews in the area, Oskar was able to hire more and classify their work as "essential", which meant they would not be shipped off to the camps. Oskar was able to turn a profit while still treat his workers well, making sure they were fed and saving them from abuse.

As the years passed, Oskar became more and more involved in trying to save his workers, which he came to refer to as his children. After the liquidation of the ghetto in Krakow, Oskar was able to build a factory near a satellite camp connected to the Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp. It was here he developed his now famous List (and his workers were making defective German bullets, so take that!).

When the war ended, Oskar fled to Argentina with his wife and several of the workers. However, in 1958, Oskar abandoned them all to return to Germany with his latest mistress. He spent the rest of his life bouncing back and forth between Germany and Israel, where he was cared for by the people he had saved during the war.

In 1993, Oskar and his wife Emilie were recognized by Yad Vashem as being Righteous Among the Nations.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

Secret Heroes of World War II by Eric Chalene

The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang

Unsolved Mysteries of World War II: From the Nazi Ghost Train and 'Tokyo Rose' to the day Los Angeles was Attacked by Phantom Fighters by Michael FitzGerald

Where Are They Buried? How Did They Die? by Tod Benoit

The Only Woman by Immy Humes

Sources:

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/oskar-schindler

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/4724/oskar-schindler

https://www.yadvashem.org/righteous/stories/schindler.html

45) Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart

She's Better Known as the Marquise de Montespan or Simply Madame de Montespan

Born: 5 October 1640, Lussac-les-Châteaux, France

Died: May 27, 1707, Bourbon-l'Archambault, France

Mistress for Louis XIV of France

She first met the king in the early 1660’s as a member of the Queen’s household but she would not manage to snag his attention until around 1666 or 1667.

In 1674 it is known she completely ousted Mademoiselle de la Valliere from the position as official mistress.

Françoise-Athénaïs and Louis would have seven children together—six of whom would be legitimized by the king.

She was a patron of the arts and protected some of the most famed artists of the day.

Françoise-Athénaïs lost her position because of her quick temper that would come out of nowhere—and after being quietly pushed further and further away from the king’s bedchamber left Versailles in 1691 to move to a convent.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located in My Personal Library:

Sex With Kings by Eleanor Herman

Sex With the Queen: 900 Years of Vile Kings, Virile Lovers, and Passionate Politics by Eleanor Herman

History's Naughty Bits by Karen Dolby

Sources:

http://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover/history/great-characters/madame-montespan

https://www.harpercollins.com/9780061751554/sex-with-kings/

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/84655153/madame-de_montespan

44) James Dunwoody Bulloch

44) James Bulloch

The Roots of the Confederacy Reached far Further Than You Know

Born: 25 June 1823, Savannah, Georgia, United States of America

Died: 7 January 1901, Liverpool, United Kingdom

He served as the primary naval agent for the Confederate States of America in Europe (Primarily the United Kingdom). James was also responsible for outfitting ships that were meant to prevent the Union from shipping goods while simultaneously helping outfit the Confederacy with supplies.

James was born into a very prominent Georgia family, with his great-grandfather being Archibald Bulloch, a leader in the American Revolutionary War and the first president of Georgia's Council of Safety. James was also the uncle of future President Theodore Roosevelt and a relative to Eleanor Roosevelt by result.

He lived out the rest of his life in the United Kingdom, publishing his memoir in later life, entitled: The Secret Service of the Confederate States in Europe.

James may have lived out the rest of his life in England as it has been said (the only source for this is Find a Grave so I'm wording this as speculation) that he was excluded from the amnesty granted to other Confederate officers at the end of the war.

His headstone reads: An American by Birth, an Englishman by Choice.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Sources:

https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/james-d-bulloch-1823-1901

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bulloch-375

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10666674/james-dunwoody-bulloch

44) Diane de Poitiers

Mistresses Get it Done

Born: 9 January 1500, Saint-Vallier, France

Died: 25 April 1566, Anet, France

Mistress for Henry II of France.

She was basically queen without the title while the real queen (Catherine de Medici) was forced to the sidelines.

Diane was a patron to poets and the arts.

The king was twenty years younger than her yet madly in love with her. Diane was his mistress for around twenty-five years (with the relationship starting when Henry was between 16 and 18). The relationship became official and went public when the King was 19 and she 40.

They actually began to see each other when he was just a prince before he was even the heir (his elder brother died in 1536) and continued after his marriage and rise to the throne.

To be fair she had been married at the age of 15 to a man thirty-nine years older than her (she would have two daughters with her husband). Diane cared for the ten children the king had with his queen and used them and the youth of the queen (Catherine was 14 when she came to court) to control them better—with one of Diane's daughters being placed in charge of all the queen’s staff.

Diane was the most powerful woman in France for twelve years, but the king was fatally wounded in a tournament, bringing her reign of power to an end. Catherine refused to let Diane in to say goodbye (even though the king was reportedly calling for her).

After the king’s death the actual queen—Catherine—got her revenge by forcing Diane to give up the jewels Henry had given her and switch her beautiful castle to something much less grand. Diane retired soon after; it is said she died from repeatedly drinking liquid gold to keep her skin looking young.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

Sex With Kings by Eleanor Herman

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Diane-de-Poitiers-duchesse-de-Valentinois

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8337141/diane-de_poitiers

https://www.harpercollins.com/9780061751554/sex-with-kings/

43) Timothy O’Sullivan

The only confirmed photography of Timothy himself

43) Timothy O’Sullivan

The man who made the horrific beautiful and the austere, serene

Born: 1840, Ireland (Or possibly New York State)

Died: 14 January 1882, Staten Island, New York, United States of America

Photographer most known for his work during the War Between the States and later of the American West in general.

Very little personal information about Timothy survives. It is not known if he ever married or had children, nor is his exact birthplace known. He left behind no written account of his life, but his photographs remain staples of those studying the American West and the War Between the States.

As written by the International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum: O’Sullivan photographed every aspect of the Civil War: military men in camp, swimming, relaxing, in battle, wounded and dead. He photographed the landscape, bridges during construction and after destruction, and battlefields littered with the bodies of dead soldiers.

In 1867, Timothy was hired by the US Geological Survey as an official photographer. He continued working, and in 1870 was hired to be the official photographer to document progress on what would one day be the location of the Panama Canal. Then, in 1871, Timothy photographed the Grand Canyon and the ruins of Canyon de Chelly, both of which are still used by researchers today.

In 1882, he took his last job, as the official photographer of the US Treasury Department.

Timothy passed away from tuberculosis at the age of forty-two.

Link to some of his photographs.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Sources:

http://iphf.org/inductees/timothy-h-osullivan/

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/24716607/timothy-h_-o_sullivan

https://petapixel.com/2013/09/02/amazing-19th-century-photographs-american-west-timothy-osullivan/

43) Agnès Sorel

43) Agnes Sorel

The woman who invented the title Mistress of the King

Born: c. 1422, Yzeures-sur-Creuse, France

Died: February 9, 1450, Le Mesnil-sous-Jumièges, France

She was the first woman to be named the official mistress of the king--for King Charles VII of France—changing the history of European monarchy forever.

When Agnès rose to her position the public was shocked and outraged but the king didn’t care—showering her with wealth and jewels and basically making her queen in everything but name. She was even highly involved of all matters of state (it should be noted Charles was in fact married at the time, his official queen was Marie d'Anjou).

Agnès was known by her nickname-- Dame de Beauté --stemming from the name of a property Charles gifted her.

She died after the birth of her fourth child (all daughters) from what was supposedly dysentery—making some scholars accuse the then-dauphin—Future Louis XI of poisoning her.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

Sex With Kings by Eleanor Herman

History's Naughty Bits by Karen Dolby

Sources:

https://www.harpercollins.com/9780061751554/sex-with-kings/

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Agnes-Sorel

https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/heritage_floor/agnes_sorel

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8361625/agnes-sorel